Christians Are Made, Not Born
None of us knows very much about John the Baptist because we have a long-standing tendency of sanitizing him. We’ve made him a safe and comfortable individual. We’ve taken the punch out of his message. We’ve weakened him, and when we do that to John the Baptist, imagine what we tend to do to God and to the Bible.
Many years ago, back in the early 1970’s, a musician and a playwright tried to recapture the strength and challenge of John’s voice by putting him in a Broadway musical called Godspell. John was the first person seen and the first voice heard. He entered the theater from the rear of the house, carrying a bucket of water and a sponge. As he walked, he splattered people throughout the orchestra section with water as he sang, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” Now it wasn’t one of those comfortable sprinklings we barely even feel, like those we’re accustomed to at Mass during certain seasons of the year, like Easter. No, it was worse than that. Just imagine the reaction of the audience on opening night, with all those well-dressed New Yorkers in suits and dresses, who paid top dollar to sit in the orchestra section. That was probably the one and only time in the history of American musical theater that people longed to be up in the balcony!
What happened at the beginning of the play was meant as a reminder and a challenge; it was intended as a reminder that the culture needed to change and it was intended as a challenge to the people to take personal responsibility for working to make things different. It was a message that resonated in the radical 70’s, with its peace protests and anti-war demonstrations. Yet, since that time, John the Baptist has been retired once again and we’ve lost the power of his message all over again. That’s tragic beyond belief because John’s life and mission was all about challenge.
John’s message was the precursor to something Saint Jerome would say centuries later, “Christians are made, not born.” Although we speak of baptism as a “rebirth”, it really isn’t. It’s much more than that. Baptism is a beginning. The Christian life and the Church’s ministry begins in the waters of baptism, just like Jesus’ mission began when he was baptized by John in the Jordan River.
Remember the quotation, “Christians are made, not born.” What’s it mean? It means that we don’t become Christians in an instant, as if there’s nothing else required afterward and nothing more to do. Unfortunately that’s what many seem to believe, as if by the Sacrament itself they’re relinquished from personal responsibility for ongoing change and committed participation in the life of grace. Yet, nothing could be farther from the truth. The making of our Christian lives begins when we’re baptized, but it reaches fulfillment only when we fully embrace what it begins to generate in us. It must be cultivated; otherwise the grace we’ve received dwindles and dies. That’s one of the reasons Saint Paul admonishes us not to receive the grace of God in vain. It does us little good to receive such a great gift from God and then do little with it. Jesus also warns us against this tendency when he cautions us to remember that those who receive much may lose the little they have.
“Christians are made, not born.” We can understand what that means simply by looking at what baptism “made” of Jesus. His baptism marks a dramatic and definitive change in his life. No, Jesus was not changed in nature by his baptism, yet the event made his life radically and irreversibly different. For one, he no longer had a “hidden life.” From the moment he was baptized, Jesus was a public figure. Before that moment very few people knew who he was. There’s evidence in the Gospels that even John the Baptist didn’t know who Jesus was, which may sound strange because Mary and Elizabeth were members of the same family. Yet, John seems not to have recognized Jesus until God revealed it to him. In the Gospel of John, for example, he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one or should we look for another?”
So, if John the Baptist didn’t know who Jesus was before his baptism then the Gospel writers must be making a very important point that we will do well not to overlook. Perhaps they’re emphasizing that Jesus’ life before his baptism was obscure and anonymous, but afterward he was compelled by the Holy Spirit into action, into the public eye.
For all of Jesus’ life, most especially after he was baptized, his life was crafted, molded, fashioned—in other words, “made.”
So, things changed after Jesus’ baptism. He didn’t go back to his old life and he didn’t disappear again into a familiar routine. The change was immediately evident, even before Jesus said or did anything. So, baptism was Jesus’ first step in realizing his calling—his vocation.
How else did Jesus’ baptism make him and what did it make of him? One of the most obvious effects is this—baptism made Jesus a target. Yes, that’s right—a target. What kind of target?
First, he was a target for accusations. People suspected everything he did. People vilified his works and demonized his words. They called him a terrorist, a radical and a heretic.
He was also a target for scorn. Many people thought of him as their personal enemy, as if his sole purpose was to destroy their happiness and their lives. They also thought of him as an enemy to their people and even an enemy of God and the religion the Lord established.
Baptism also made Jesus a target for other people’s obsessions. Once he was baptized, no one ever left him alone again. People hounded him, pursued him, and pressed in around him everywhere he went. It wasn’t that they loved him because most people didn’t. Instead, they only wanted attention. They wanted Jesus to give them what they wanted, to make their lives easier, and to solve their difficulties. So, most people used Jesus to satisfy their own needs.
Don’t get me wrong. A few people did respond positively to Jesus. A few did authentically love him and a few held him in high esteem, but these were few in number compared to the number of those who suspected and disliked him.
So, this is one of the things baptism made of Jesus. It made him a target. Yet, did you notice? Even though people vilified and opposed him, and even though life grew increasingly more challenging and difficult after his baptism, Jesus was never unhappy or unfulfilled. The things he suffered or the insults people lobbed at him didn’t diminish his resolve or taint his sense of personal mission. As a matter of fact, the more he invested his life in living his vocation—his baptism—the more contented and happy he seemed to be.
He’s not the only one. In following Jesus’ example, many other godly men and women throughout the generations since have testified that their lives were actually happier and their sense of purpose stronger because they made living out their baptismal calling the focus of their lives. That makes perfect sense because we can only be happy to the extent that we can be happy with God. Since God created us for life with Him, it’s understandable that life is meaningful only when we honor the purpose God gives us, not when we’re off pursuing our own interests.
Now we understand what baptism made of Jesus, so it’s time to turn that question around on ourselves. We must therefore ask what baptism has made of us? Are there any dramatic and definitive changes in our lives because of it? Has it made us a public figure? Are we living our faith out in the open? Are we taking risks for our faith? Are we pursuing godly challenges?
Or, are we living private, anonymous lives? Have we neglected the challenges of faith and put off our personal transformation? Are we putting ourselves on the line for the Lord or are we trying to use the Lord, like the crowds in the gospels, to satisfy our own needs?
Also, what would we do, how would we respond, if someone like John the Baptist came running into church dousing us all with water and shouting, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”? Would we turn an ugly glare or beam an enthusiastic smile? Do we want baptism or are we content with sprinklings?
Remember what Saint Jerome wrote, “Christians are made, not born.” Which is another way of asking, “Are we Christians because it’s familiar or do we truly want to live this faith?”